Traveling Through The Tunnel
by Both-Could-turn-Out-wrong
Summary: Starlight Express fan fic. Rusty and Dinah go through some romantic troubles. Is there really a light at the end of the tunnel? This is my fisrt ever attempt at fan fic writing, so please read and review.


Traveling Through The Tunnel   
  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. I don't own most of the clothing I wear, the books I read, the bed I sleep in... much less Starlight Express. This story is a Christmas gift for my cousin. Please don't sue me. There's no point. A person who's writing as a Christmas gift obviously doesn't have any money anyway.  
  
Notes: (To Shannon a.k.a Chi/AerynQ) Merry Christmas! Happy Yule!   
(to everyone else) This is my first attempt at writing Starlight Express fan fiction... or anything for that matter. So please review! Also, this is based on the OLC version of the show, and since it's a gift for Shannon, Dinah is the Francis Ruffle version (meaning a bit younger than usual, with brown hair.). Hopefully Pearl and Greaseball fans won't get angry after the first two paragraphs... everything is explained in the end, really!   
  
  
Dinah kicked the side of one of her stoves hard, in half hearted fury. She had already cried. She had cried for hours it had seemed, alone. She didn't want to cry anymore, but she didn't know what else to do. She had seen them only a few hours ago... Greaseball and Pearl. She didn't know why exactly she had been shocked. After all, Greaseball had never been loyal to her, and she couldn't remember a time when Pearl had ever been loyal to Rusty. Still, she had thought race night had changed everything. They had all seen the light at the end of the tunnel, and it was bright, and perfect and radiant. For Dinah, the light had faded.  
  
She just didn't understand it, not at all. She had thought... well, really she hadn't thought at all. Greaseball had said he was S.O.R.R.R.Y., and Pearl had decided only Rusty had the power to move her. That was more than enough to convince her that her own relationship was perfect, and would stay that way forever. Greaseball hadn't really even had to apologize. He could have just smiled at her, and she would've forgiven everything. Maybe it had all just been a mistake. Surely Greaseball hadn't meant anything by it. He loved her. She knew he did. She wouldn't believe otherwise. No matter how many times he strayed, he loved her and only her. That didn't stop her from being horribly upset though.  
  
At length, she realized that kicking her kitchen equipment was doing more harm than good. She stopped, surprised she hadn't dented her toe, or the stove. She sat down dejectedly, her head resting on her chin. Her kitchen was a small, enclosed space, with several stoves, drawers full of utensils, and blue wallpaper that matched the print of her dress. She loved it in there. She and Buffy always had the best time preparing meals for the train yard, and talking, and gently competing to see who could make the best side dish. It was a warm, comfortable room that smelled sweetly of chocolate cake baking. Right now, it was comforting.  
  
She was alone. It was late at night, and most everyone else was sleeping. The thought of going to bed herself had crossed Dinah's mind, but still that thought remained unheeded. It took her a few moments to realize she was crying again. She cried so easily, at least in matters of love. All Greaseball had to do to make her want to cry would be yell at her slightly. She hated that. It wasn't exactly as though she meant to cry though. It wasn't something she could help.   
  
  
~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~*  
  
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! Dreams fragmented and drifted away to fast for Dinah to remember even the slightest bit of their essence. She lifted her head, not even remembering having fallen asleep. She became fully awake fairly quickly though, her gears quickly returning to waking order.   
  
"Um..." She said, opening the door, "Dinner's already been served..." Of course it had been, it was after midnight. Rusty stood before her, looking very worried.  
  
"Yeah, I know, have you seen Pearl anywhere? I just thought since all the lights were on, maybe she'd be in here with you..." His voice trailed off, as he looked passed Dinah into the kitchen. His eyes took a certain disappointed look as he saw that his beloved observation car was indeed not in the kitchen.  
  
Dinah swallowed hard. She certainly had seen Pearl. Apparently her distress showed in her face, because Rusty suddenly looked very confused.   
  
"Did something happen to Pearl?" Rusty sounded very, very worried. Dinah felt awful. What exactly could she tell him? She shook her head.  
  
"No. Pearl's alright... she just... never mind." Dinah shut the door in Rusty's face. There was another insistent know. Dinah sighed. This wasn't going to be easy at all. She opened the door, suddenly very angry. She wasn't mad at Rusty, he hadn't done anything. She was furious with Greaseball, but most of all Pearl. Pearl *knew* that Greaseball was her engine; despite the way Greaseball acted a lot of the time. Dinah swung the door open, a certain vindictiveness rising up within her.  
  
"She and Greaseball were... together. Alright?" She said, before even giving the steamer a chance to speak. The look on Rusty's face made her immediately wish those words unsaid. She assumed that it was how she looked when she had seen them... only worse. Inexplicably, Rusty seemed more heartbroken than she could possibly be. "Sorry." She murmured, ineffectively. Her tears were starting again. To Rusty's credit, he wasn't crying, just standing there looking extremely upset. She wished he'd say something, or skate away, instead of just standing there and looking like he did. "I really am sorry." She half whimpered when he didn't leave right away.   
  
"I don't believe you." Rusty said finally. He just couldn't believe something like that, he absolutely couldn't. He knew his Pearl would never do that. Dinah looked up at him, her tear stained face indignant.   
  
"Do you think I'd lie about something like that?" She asked, her voice slightly hurt. Rusty shrugged, hopelessness etching itself into his face.  
  
"But why would she do something like that?" He asked, imploringly. Dinah shrugged, deciding that she liked complete silence better than difficult questions like this one. For a moment Rusty looked almost like a little trainlet, asking a trainlet question like "Why is the sky blue", or "Why do strange little human people like to crawl around inside me". After that moment passed however, he seemed to regain his enginly stature, even if he still looked singularly distressed.   
  
"I... don't... know." Dinah said at length. She bowed her head, letting her thick brown hair obscure the view of her falling tears. "It's something you get used." She said. For the first time it seemed to occur to Rusty that Dinah was going through exactly the same problem that he was right now.  
  
"Sorry." He said, sympathetically. Dinah nodded, retreating back into her kitchen. To her surprise, Rusty followed.  
  
"So... do you have any idea where she is?" This question was considerably less surprising then has continued presence.  
  
"No." Dinah said flatly. Rusty sat down at one of the tables in the kitchen, deflatedly. Dinah did her best to wipe her tears away. She went into the refrigerator, pouring a cup of apple cider, and handing it to Rusty. She sat across from him at the table, looking for all the world like the stereotypical bartender, despite the fact that the beverage she had offered was far from alcoholic. She had no inclination to get Rusty drunk, and doubted he would be much interested in that anyway. The part of the bartender was one she played often. She would sit, watch a train get drunk, and listen sympathetically to everything they had to say. However, the part about giving out sage advice was something she had yet to get down. Her advice was rarely useful, unless she was simply repeating something Belle had told.   
  
"Right now might not be the best time to go looking for her anyway." Dinah said quietly, "Greaseball is always so mad at me when I say anything about him cheating..."  
  
"So you think I should just ignore her?" Rusty replied, incredulously, "No... I won't do that I'll..." Dinah shook her head.  
  
"No. It works better to just try and ignore it... Everything always fixes itself in the end, and it's not really so bad."  
  
"If it's not so bad," Rusty asked slowly, "Then why are you crying?" That all to familiar lump rose in Dinah's throat again. It seemed like every time she regained her composure, she lost it again. She buried her face in her arms. Rusty skated over, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.   
  
"Dinah... It's okay." He said soothingly, despite the fact that he didn't feel it at all himself. She didn't stop crying, so he kept talking. "When things like this... well, do you know the story of the Starlight Express?" Dinah nodded, "I like to tell myself I'm him. Poppa told me to do that. It helps." Dinah looked up.   
  
"I'm rolling stock." She said, smiling slightly. Rusty nodded.  
  
"And I am the Starlight." Dinah nodded. Rusty put his arms around her for a moment, in a brief hug. Then he let go. He looked out the window. The sun was coming up. "I'm going to find Pearl. She'll be getting up soon." Rusty said, getting up. "I have to fix this. I am..."  
  
"The Starlight." Dinah finished, "And I'm rolling stock. Everything's sure to work out fine." Rusty nodded, and sped out of the kitchen.   
  
  
~~~~~*~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
  
Strangely, Dinah found Pearl before Rusty did. She came speeding into the kitchen, not long after the steamer had left. How they had managed to miss each other, Dinah did not know.  
  
"Why are you here?" Dinah asked, her voice dripping with bitterness and anger. Pearl was the absolute last person she wanted to see right now. She almost felt bad for talking so harshly to her though when she looked at her. The observation car had dark little circles under her eyes, as though she had been up all night. The rims of her eyes were almost as pink as her hair from crying. Pearl flopped melodramatically into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.  
  
"Oh Dinah... I'm so sorry about everything!" Pearl exclaimed, her apology sounding truly heartfelt. Dinah didn't say anything, but her face softened slightly. "You've got to believe I didn't mean for any of that to happen..."  
  
"Yeah... you just accidentally kissed my engine." Dinah said accusingly.   
  
"No." Pearl replied, looking at Dinah imploringly, "It wasn't like that at all. He kissed me..." Dinah shook her head.  
  
"No. I don't believe that... he loves me." She said stubbornly.   
  
"And I love Rusty!" Pearl countered quickly, "You can't understand just how much I love Rusty..." Pearl hung her head, not looking at Greaseball. "I was flirting with Greaseball." She said, ashamed, "I didn't mean to... I always flirted with all sorts of engines before I hooked up with Rusty. It's what I'm used to. I guess old habits die hard." She looked up suddenly, her voice gaining conviction, "Buts that's all I did! The rest was Greaseball, really it was! And then you... well you saw some things... I didn't sleep all last night, I felt so horrible. Please don't tell Rusty..."  
  
"You... you just want me to keep it a secret! That's all!" Dinah exploded, with irrational anger.   
  
"No! I wanted to talk to Rusty myself. It was just a kiss. I love Rusty! Dinah, I really am sorry..." Dinah looked at Pearl, her anger fading. Try as she might, she was simply incapable of holding grudges.   
  
"It's alright." Dinah said sullenly. "I already talked with Rusty though. You'll have to work things out with him." Pearl hung her head low.   
  
"I love him." She repeated, He's the only one I love..." Dinah put a gentle hand on Pearl's shoulder.   
  
"It'll be okay. He loves you too. He won't be mad at you for long." Dinah just hoped things between her and Greaseball could be fixed as easily.   
  
~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
  
Dinah watched Greaseball, sitting silently at a table, eating his breakfast. She had purposely cooked things he liked. It had been terrible cooking breakfast. Buffy had managed to pry out of her exactly what was wrong, and lots of hugs and crying had followed.   
  
Rusty was sitting at one of the many tables in the dining room. He was holding on to Pearl, with a smile on his face. Apparently they had made up. Pearl herself was fast asleep in his arms... she really had stayed up all last night. Dinah also was very tired, but she didn't plan on doing anything until she set things right with Greaseball. She sat down next to him. He didn't look at her. She took a deep breath. She was rolling stock.  
  
"Good morning." She said experimentally. No response. He didn't even look at her. She frowned. "I'm very mad at you." Dinah said. Still no response. Dinah though her arms around him. "Greaseball, please don't act like this... I haven't done anything to you... I just..." Dinah fell silent as he wrapped his arms around her, lightly kissing her forehead. That was better. She smiled, relaxing into his arms, just enjoying it for a few moments. "Why'd you do that with Pearl." Dinah asked suddenly. She felt Greaseball's arms stiffen. "Don't be upset." She pleaded, "I just... it's so horrible when you do that to me... I just wanted to know." Greaseball opened his mouth, and then closed it. Dinah seemed to have a talent for making him feel extremely guilty.   
  
"I... don't know!" He said suddenly.  
  
"Spell it." Dinah suggested. Greaseball shook his head.  
  
"It's to much to spell." He replied. Dinah looked at him, gazing up into his handsome face with big blue eyes.  
  
"Please... try to tell me." She said softly. Greaseball sighed, he wasn't good at this at all. He spoke in a low voice, so that only Dinah could hear.  
  
"I... wasn't thinking." He said lamely. Why he always looked towards other coaches, even when he knew that Dinah was the only coach for him was a mystery even to himself. He didn't want to tell her that he had been doing that a lot, especially lately. He wasn't getting as much attention since he lost the race, and he hated that. "Dinah... I'm sorry." He quietly said after a long pause. Dinah smiled at him, moving her head to kiss him lightly. An apology was always enough for Dinah. She knew he meant it, even if he never changed. She pulled back, beaming. He looked happy too.   
  
A whistle blew. It was time for the day's runs to start. Dinah grinned, and hitched herself up behind Greaseball. She watched Rusty lightly shake Pearl to wake her. She smiled at him as they passed. They had both gotten what they wanted.  
  
That day, when she and Greaseball went though a train tunnel, he stole a kiss. Sometimes the darkness was the best part of the tunnel.  
  
  
~END (Merry Christmas Shannon!)   
  
  
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End file.
